A restaurant owner in San Francisco told NPR he got rid of tipping partly because of the city's minimum wage law.

"There are a number of city mandates that are expensive, and the imminent $16 minimum wage is among those, so it's been very much on restaurant owners' minds how to compensate differently," Thad Vogler said.

In some states, a server can make as little as $2.13 an hour before tips. With a no-tipping policy, the idea is that employees can bring home a more predictable hourly wage — and restaurant owners can protect their bottom line.

So some owners have been upping the price of menu items. But the switch isn't working for everyone.